Both fresh and waste tanks not draining

[SD j]

Both electrically operated drain valves (fresh and grey water) are refusing to open even though my swift command panel tells me that they should be emptying when prompted .
any advice gratefully received .
2019:swift champagne

 

[irnbru]

Do you have a tap over ride you can try in the meantime perhaps.

 

[SD j]

Do you have a tap over ride you can try in the meantime perhaps.

Not that im aware of

 

[irnbru]

Maybe a fuse?
Im having a google just now .

 

[SD j]

Maybe a fuse?
Im having a google just now .

Thats a good suggestion, but ive not found a fuse marked “drain valves” or anything similar yet, all i can see is the water pump fuse which is working fine.

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[irnbru]

How about a little blue knob near your boiler? At the very least your thread is getting bumped til someone knowledgeable comes along.

 

[Gerby]

if nothing marked on fuse panel I would have a quick scan of all of them (I assume they are spade ones) just on the off chance of a quick fix

 

[SD j]

How about a little blue knob near your boiler? At the very least your thread is getting bumped til someone knowledgeable comes along.

not sure about the blue knob near the boiler , is this something connected to tank dump valves or the water boiler valve ?

 

[irnbru]

I found this on another fun thread, its not the same van but might be the same set up.

At the top of the blue drain valve/solenoid you should see a circular white disk. Pull this up and turn it to manually open and close the valve. Must be a common problem as I am waiting on a replacement as well for my 2017 Bolero.

 

[SD j]

if nothing marked on fuse panel I would have a quick scan of all of them (I assume they are spade ones) just on the off chance of a quick fix

Considering how many electrically operated items there are on these things the amount of fuses seems minuscule, ill have a look in the morning.

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[SD j]

I found this on another fun thread, its not the same van but might be the same set up.

At the top of the blue drain valve/solenoid you should see a circular white disk. Pull this up and turn it to manually open and close the valve. Must be a common problem as I am waiting on a replacement as well for my 2017 Bolero.

on the external valves which are insulated ? Rather than internally next to the boiler ?

 

[irnbru]

Inside , Next to the boiler

 

[SD j]

At least i will be able to empty the tank manually if thats the case .

 

[SD j]

Ill check in the morning , thanks

 

[irnbru]

Maybe something like this at a guess, it might be right next to your boiler but maybe yours is completely different.

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[SD j]

Ah I see , no definitely nothing similar near my heater, but manual operation of the solenoids sounds feasible at least until i can get to the bottom of the electrical problem.

 

[berni109]

The black thing with the blue button and diamond shaped knob is the cold weather dump valve to stop the boiler freezing when full.
In a lot of cases it will drain the boiler and cold tank through a syphon action and more quickly if the water pump is on. Then when its cold water is empty it can burn the pump out.

 

[nicholsong]

Why do the builders have to make life so complicated. To empty our fresh tank I put my arm in and pull out the plug at the bottom - we don't have pumps to empty sinks in houses. For dirty water it also is gravity once manual valve is opened.

 

[glenn2926]

Why do the builders have to make life so complicated. To empty our fresh tank I put my arm in and pull out the plug at the bottom - we don't have pumps to empty sinks in houses. For dirty water it also is gravity once manual valve is opened.

That’s exactly what I have been thinking. By making the dump valve electronic they have fixed a problem that didn’t exist.

 

[peterc10]

Nowadays you always get plenty of bling in a Swift. Just another thing to add to the sales pitch. Whether or not it is needed is another matter.

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[SD j]

Why do the builders have to make life so complicated. To empty our fresh tank I put my arm in and pull out the plug at the bottom - we don't have pumps to empty sinks in houses. For dirty water it also is gravity once manual valve is opened.

Im with you all the way , our last van had a tap on each tank , never failed !
I found the cause this morning (well almost) I went through all the fuses and hey presto fuse No5 was blown!
It is of course marked "WC, Hob ignition , accessories"
What caused it to blow I have no idea but ive tested everything I can including the drain valves and everything works perfectly for now.
Thanks to all

 

[SD j]

Nowadays you always get plenty of bling in a Swift. Just another thing to add to the sales pitch. Whether or not it is needed is another matter.

If the solenoids fail in future they will be replaced with good old fashioned taps

 

[Puddleduck]

Why do the builders have to make life so complicated. To empty our fresh tank I put my arm in and pull out the plug at the bottom - we don't have pumps to empty sinks in houses. For dirty water it also is gravity once manual valve is opened.

Ours is the same. One of us might get a wet arm pulling out plugs or opening drain valves but it's pretty fool proof as long as the pipes / valves / plugs aren't clogged up.

 

[nicholsong]

Ours is the same. One of us might get a wet arm pulling out plugs or opening drain valves but it's pretty fool proof as long as the pipes / valves / plugs aren't clogged up.

A wet arm compared with the OP's problem seems nothing.

 

[Puddleduck]

A wet arm compared with the OP's problem seems nothing.

Exactly. However if one is unable to get to the plug / valve / tap (disability for example) then remote switches for the drains would be a Godsend.

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[TerryL]

On a few coaches I drove the waste dump was electrically operated from the cab - but it would only work with the ignition off to prevent "accidental" release onto the road. At first I thought that this might have been the OP problem but as it turns out he'd got a blown fuse, apparently not.

Why do designers make things more complicated? How often does anybody actually want to "dump" the fresh water tank?

 

[nicholsong]

Exactly. However if one is unable to get to the plug / valve / tap (disability for example) then remote switches for the drains would be a Godsend.

Except for the disability, the other items should not be positioned where they cannot be accessed. Bad design.